Lets face it. Most places a person frequents, people are on their phones. Often, they are texting. I admit, I am part of the generation in which is dependent on texting and technology in general. I have often thought texting may be too good to be true. After doing some research, it has come to my attention that there is a condition known as “texting thumb.” This phenomenon occurs when a person’s thumb feels pain due to the frequent activity of texting and/or typing things into ones phone. How detrimental can texting really be to person’s thumb?
On average, it has been found that people send or receive 10 messages a day. For teenagers, the average number of texts sent a day for people between the ages of 18-24 was 67 messages a day, meaning they send 2,022 on average a month and received almost another 2,000 a month. Here is a link to a chart of the monthly average of texts sent and received per month in the year 2013 (divided into age groups).
The “texting thumb” is actually known as two different things:
1) The trigger thumb which entails the restriction of the tendon responsible for flexing the thumb. This strain is caused from the constant holding of a cell phone or stretching of the thumb to type text messages. The thumb can pop out of place and even remain in a curled position if extended too frequently.
2) Thumb arthritis which occurs in the carpometacarpal joint where the wrist and thumb are joined. Once this occurs, there is no treatment to fix the problem.
Texting thumb is referred to as de Quervain tendonitis or tenosynovitis. It involves inflammation in the tendons and the synovial sheaths that protected the tendons in the hand. Repeated irritation of these tendons leads to pain and a weakened grip. Permanent damage can occur thanks to the repetition and increased inflammation which can degenerate. These occurrences then result in pain in which can be severe and intrusive in everyday life.
Researchers from Turkey recruited about 150 people from the ages of 18-40. About half the population recruited fell under the category of ‘frequent texters’ (sending about 1,200 messages a month). Ultrasound imaging was able to measure the thickness of the tendons within the carpal tunnel, which ends at the tip of the thumb. The greater the thickness of the tendon, the more frequent a texter the person was found to be. This thickness again attributes to the pain and weakness of grip felt in the thumb and wrist areas.
There have been many cases reported of texting thumb that support the alternative hypothesis that texting thumb is a health risk to be concerned about.
There has been a relevant study involving a 48 year old woman who suffered from de Quervain tendonitis. The woman went to her primary physicians office to receive care after noticing her searing pain in her hands and weakness. After wearing wrist splints and reducing her texting to minimal amounts, her pain subsided after a three weeks. It appears her tendon sheath was 3 to 4 times more thick as a result of her constant texting beforehand. This thickness, as I mentioned before, attributes to much pain and weakness of a person’s hand grip.
Another case was reported of a 14 year old girl who admitted she had been texting 4 hours a day on average for two years. Her mother confirmed these actions were true. She had tissue swelling and pain due to thickness and severe tenderness in her right thumb. Her radiograph results were normal and she was not found to have a severe injury or disease. In order to heal, she wore a splint on her thumb and took aspirin. Her texting has since been limited to 45 minutes a day. This problem has not reoccurred since she made the changes to the time she now spends on her phone.
One group of researchers observed 27 people to see how excessive texting affected their thumbs. The motions of texting revealed their was extreme extensions and flexions of the thumbs. In addition, the motions revealed that such things as musculoskeletal disorders and several pain disorders (such as myofascial and fibromyalgia) could easily arise after prolonged periods of texting.
There are definitely cases in which show there is a correlation between texting and thumb-related problems. It seems texting thickens the tendons in a person’s hand, which then causes extreme pain and weakness. Although confounding variables could be a result of these cases and studies, texting has some effect on people’s thumbs that is still being researched. After reviewing this topic, it seems a person may want to lay off texting and instead spend time doing things like reading books or walking his or her dog.
Mobile phone service concept
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-number-of-texts-sent-2013-3
https://www.rush.edu/health-wellness/discover-health/when-technology-hurts
http://ergonomics.about.com/od/De-Quervains_Syndrome/a/What_Is_Texting_Thumb.htm
http://www.wsj.com/articles/texting-frequently-with-thumbs-may-cause-tendinitis-1411410025
http://www.jfponline.com/index.php?id=22143&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=175766
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Deepak_Sharan/publication/250612550_Risk_factors_and_clinical_features_of_text_message_injuries/links/00b4951ec139770252000000.pdf
http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2014/01/texting_primary-100224994-large.jpg
http://www.eorthopod.com/images/ContentImages/hand/hand_cmc/hand_cmc_symptoms01.jpg
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1292731/thumbs/o-WOMAN-TEXTING-SAD-570.jpg?1
http://jaoa.org/article.aspx?articleid=2094077
I also looked into the health effects of texting recently while writing a blog post. What I found was pretty similar to what you have said here. The condition that I cam across was called Teen Texting Tendonitis. I think what you said about confounding variables is a huge possibility in any of these studies because we do not know what these people are doing with the time that they are not spending texting. It seems like typing would be able to cause the same or similar injuries as well. I think that before we can conclude anything about texting and the health effects it has, we need to complete more tests that are only about texting. This though, will be difficult because tendonitis takes a while to develop and we cannot ethically have a person just sit in a room for a year or so and text for a certain amount of time each day.
It is very interesting when I think about this because when I think about the amount in which I text, I would say that I don’t text a lot, but ask my parents and they say that I am addicted to my phone and is always texting.I have never really had a problem with the texting thumb, but my wrist has gotten sore from playing certain games on my phone and sometimes when I really am texting for a long time. I do know of people who have had pain in their thumbs while they were texting, so I agree with you that there is a correlation between texting and getting the texting thumb. I think from now on once I start feeling a little bit of pain in my thumb I am going to put down the phone and let my muscles rest.